Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 16, 24-28
Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Follow me
1. Come after me. Following God means adopting a lifestyle, a way of living, an ideal that embraces reality. Being a Christian means living as Christ proposes, not picking and choosing—”I’ll take what I like about Jesus and discard what I don’t.” No! Following Jesus means denying yourself because you have to follow a specific path, a way of life. Even when we talk about following an ideology, there are parameters and limits. But we Christians follow a person, not an idea. Your actions are what strengthen your intentions; by observing how you act, I discover how you think. Don’t forget this.
2. Lose to gain. Life is a challenge every single day. It clearly involves risk, but that’s precisely where everything lies. You have to take risks. Of course, you should think things through and be prudent, but sooner or later, you have to jump in. The problem is that nobody wants to lose, but you have to try and take a chance. Try it at least once. A good businessperson knows they can’t keep all the profits; a percentage has to be invested to keep earning. If you keep all the money without investing, you’ll eventually end up with nothing. The same applies to life: if you want to hold onto and control everything and everyone, you might end up with no one and nothing.
3. What profit would there be? The Lord knows what you do and what you don’t do. You can’t deceive Him. Don’t stop striving for your goal. The key is to be clear about where you want your life to go. God’s generosity knows no bounds, and He will always be with you, inviting you to walk along with him day by day. Don’t falter on your journey. Always seek God and discern what He wants from you along your path. Remember that even from the worst situations, with God, you can bring forth something very good.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
